Sunday, July 10, 2011

Compass Cloak

I thought that I had plenty of the burgundy wool to make the Clarice bodice, sleeves, split front skirt and a cloak. Well.....as, I discovered when I cut out the skirt...I was so wrong! And since I bought the fabric several years ago on clearance getting more was not an option. Time for a new plan. I decided to use a compass rose design with spokes to designate the 4 cardinal directions - North, South, East, West - and 4 more spokes to designate the NE, ....I cut the pattern out of an a piece of moth eaten wool as a base that will not be seen when the cloak is complete. Then I basted eight wedges of the burgundy wool around the hem of the base fabric.

For the spokes I used a burgundy taffeta that also came with pin tucks. Each spoke is lined so that there is a finished edge to stitch down. For the four smallest spoke pieces indicating NE, SW... I ran the pin tucks vertically. Here is the cloak with the with the four smallest spokes being pinned in place.

The center front will have its spoke split.

All spokes are pinned on covering my moth-eaten wool. The spokes are stitched down and I am contemplating trim options. The lining will be burgundy taffeta without pin tucks that I am contemplating pinking in a simple geometric pattern. The collar is cut out but not yet stitched. I re-cut the neckline opening after applying the spokes.